Gluttony
by UsurperOfTruth
Summary: In which Taylor turns pink and has an insatiable hunger for sweets that may or may not be people.
1. Chapter 1

**1 - Maneater**

My stomach grumbled in pain.

I was hungry.

So hungry.

It was hard to think clearly at times.

 _Why don't you eat?_

"Taylor, what are you doing in the cafeteria? Don't you know animals like you should eat outside? Or maybe you'd like to eat off the floor?" Emma laughed. Her hanger-ons _—_

 _Come on now, she'd be so delicious wouldn't she? Maybe a Cookie? No, Cupcake! All her bitchiness would make for excellent frosting! Don't you think so too~?_

No, I was in control. It hurt, but I could binge when I got home. A bag of sweets all to myself with the last of my allowance that hadn't went towards the ideas in my head. It was barely filling, nothing seemed to be as filling as it should be, but I had to endure.

"Good job on your essay Taylor I—" Gladly stupid grin stared back at me.

Why couldn't he tell that I don't care? **I'm hungry**.

"I see you're "helping" the Teachers, Taylor. It's the only way someone like you could get good grades after all. Why—" Emma's words droned on and on.

Shut up.

 _No keep going, then I can finally eat. I can't wait to sink my teeth into you~._

"Taylor I'm... I'm really worried about you—" Dad's words faded into static and all around me was nothing.

Nothing but me and her.

She stood there, long snow white wavy hair that was just as long as mine had grown recently. Her skin was a bright pink, and on her face was a hungry look.

Red eyes with black sclera stared back at my own grey ones.

She was me.

 _"Come on. A bite won't hurt, will it?" Her smile was wicked as she was suddenly behind me, hugging me close to her._

I had to do something soon.

Just a bite, someone who was bad, someone that no one would mind going missing. I'd have to do that again.

That wasn't so bad, right? Right?

...

Nervous energy hummed underneath her skin, the night sky overhead as she walked through the neighborhood.

Her white lab-coat, a disposable white surgical mask, and a simple face-mask covering her eyes served as her costume, the jeans and shirt she wore underneath being merely something for comfort. Her power let off the chain just enough that her dark curls hung down to her lower back, the color a pale snow white. That didn't really matter though, what mattered was the fact that _her stomach hurt, she was so very hungry, everything smelled so very delicious, they'd all make for some amazing snacks_. Taylor retreated into the nearest alley-way as her breathing came out heavier, sweat pouring down her face as she clutched at her stomach. Slumped up against the wall she closed her eyes as she waited for the pangs to recede. Come on, just a while longer. She just had to make it a while more and then the device would be finished. She'd still have to eat, but she wouldn't have to consistently deal with this gnawing hunger that seemed to torment her everyday since she had gotten out of the hospital. Even when she ate so much food that she was sure that she should've been sick it was enough to maybe keep her fed for a few hours, sweets could hold her for a day if she ate enough. Distraction. She needed a distraction.

That hadn't been all either, she was so much more than when _that_ had happened. For better and worse. She was stronger, faster, smarter. That didn't even account for her other powers. It didn't help her at all.

The shoves from Sophia felt like a baby trying to push a brick wall, she knew well enough to pretend different. She could probably punch a hole straight through her, but that'd be wrong. She wasn't going to stoop so low, not now, she'd endure this much anyways. When Sophia tried her tough girl act she remembered to act as if she was fazed, Sophia would merely try harder if she didn't get her way. The way she looked at her made her think Sophia knew something was off, unimportant. _A delicious chocolate bar ripe for the pickings. Maybe dark chocolate? Bitter, but sweet._

Madison still annoyed her, the sweet and innocent act to cover her the sickly insides. The small pranks separately were nothing, but more and more they grated upon her. _She'd make for a delicious scoop of ice-cream! Maybe even with cherries, yum!_

Emma's words still cut deep when she was aware of the world around her. _A hard choice, though I still think a cupcake would be nice. She's so bitchy that she might ruin the sweet, but she looks so yummy._

Her stomach grumbled again.

"Hey, girl!"

Her eyes turned towards the sound of the voice. There coming from further in the alley was a man. His pupils were dilated, the smell coming off of him a mixture of alcohol, sweat, and weeks of going unwashed if his clothes were any sign. His legs were shaky, his stance wobbly as he stumbled a bit closer towards her, the scruffy hair coming out of his beanie and on his face a shade of grey that put the man as someone who had been on the streets long enough that he hadn't been able to groom himself for a long time. Taylor's eyes were focused on the pistol in his hand.

"Gimme any money you have on you right now!" His voice, was raspy, with a slight panic in it. His eyes a bit manic.

 _Hmm, he's a bit old, but I'm dying for a bite to eat! He'd make for a nice cream-puff, wouldn't he?_

She ignored the thought and accompanying pang of hunger, and turned an eye towards the man glaring.

"Go away, **now!** " She couldn't see it, but she knew that her left eye had shifted as the tender grasp on her power's slipped just slightly.

The man stepped backwards, his hands trembling as he felt a chill run through his spine as he stared at her. She wondered what he was thinking. Why he wasn't running _before she decided to eat him?_

The resulting bang that rang out as the pistol, a 9mm she had noted inwardly, went off echoed in the small alley-way.

She wasn't smiling as she held the round that had been close to piercing through her chest between her fingers.

"Ah! Fuck, Cape!" The addict of a man finally decided that now was the time to run away, tripping over his own feet as he ran out the opposite side of the alley-way, intent on getting as far away as possible.

Taylor's hands trembled for a minute, the temptation to finally sate her hunger warring with her desire to not kill what was clearly someone either drunk or on some sort of drug. It'd be easy to chase him, she was no Alexandria but she was easily much faster than any normal person could possibly hope to be. Clenching her hands tight, she grit her teeth. She could bear this for just a little longer, Taylor had endured this for this long she could make it just a little longer. Couldn't she? No, she had to. She just had to find something _to eat_.

"Hey, old man! The fuck are ya whimpering about?"

Her ears perked up as she shifted herself up off the wall, finally standing. Had something happened? As she shifted to move towards the noise, her nose twitched. What... _what was that simply delicious aroma?_

The sound of her own footsteps echoed in her own ears as the world around her faded becoming little more than static.

Step

Step. That homeless guy from before was getting beat up by some thugs in another alley on the otherside of the street. That was fine.

Step... the smell was getting closer.

Step.

The world around her was hell.

Fire.

There was fire everywhere. A hulking beast-like creature, Lung the weaker part of herself noted, rampaged throughout the the flames chasing several figures. Spotting one body on the the asphalt tearing beneath him as he changed more and more she grinned, he smelled smokey. She felt it start from her gut as it welled up from inside of her gradually, her too wide mouth smiling beneath her mask as she started to giggle. She could feel the energy beneath her skin, the same energy that allowed her to casually catch bullets, start to leak out of her, flickering across her skin like embers. She was so hungry.

She could stop Lung right? SO maybe...

Her form blurred as she dashed towards the hulking draconic beast, his form towering over hers at 9ft or so. Clenching her hand, she let out a scream as she punched at his chest.

Metal crumbled underneath her fist as Lung as lurched backwards from the force and then skid across the ground, digging asphalt up with his massive form as he gradually crashed into some worthless building and came to a stop.

Blazing eyes of fire stared at her own bloody red ones. _He looked delicious._

She let the grip on her power loose as she felt herself change completely, her skin turning pink as a long thick tail sprouted out from behind her, swaying back and forth.

Taylor couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her.

Even as a hand as big as her lifted her off the ground and started squeezing her body, her giggles turned to full blown laughter.

Her torso shrunk in on itself as her form shifted and her arm stretched and delivered another strike to Lung, his hand unclenching just enough for her to snap her leg forward a kick him in the jaw sending him reeling backwards slightly. Taylor was still strong enough to hurt him, good. Her mouth watered, but she had to endure, she had to actually deal with him first.

"ill 'ou!" Lung roared as fire was exhaled from his mouth, burning her too slow to have any real effect. Her body regenerated much too quick.

She really had won the power lottery hadn't she? Diving through the flames, she slammed an elbow on top of his head, shutting his mouth closed. Flipping through the air she kicked at him as the world around her fell away.

All that existed was her and the hunt.

 _Bang._ Lung smacked her across the ground as she jabbed her fingers into his eyes.

 _Bang._ She put out the fire with blasts of her energy as she flew through the air, keeping Lung from leaving. That weaker part of her reminded her that she couldn't let him leave.

 _Bang_. Taylor ignored the figure in blue armor yelling at her to stand down and threw Lung into the sky to keep her fight from causing anymore damage, the last 2 or 3 city blocks little more than a disaster as her fight passed through.

 _Bang._ Lung yanked at her arm, tearing it clean off after a moment. The arm then proceeded to wrap around him as she raked his eyes, earning a gout of flame and a roar of rage.

 _Bang. Bang. Bang._

She let out a laugh as she looked at the now 13ft dragon that soared through the sky after her, this was fun! So much fun! Who knew that fighting could be such a thrill!

Her stomach grumbled.

But, she was **hungry**.

Her attacks had long since stopped being enough to hurt her entree really, he was regenerating too fast. But, that didn't matter much.

"I've finally decided!" Her voice was manic as her energy, which had raged around her like pink and black flames, shot up all around her illuminating the night sky.

Her entree flapped on metallic wings as he stared at her with ember-like eyes, his form so transformed that he could no longer even voice words.

A roar sounded through his mouth as he dashed forward at her fast... but she was faster.

Streaking forwards, she slammed into him faster than before as she grabbed him with both hands and dived towards the ground.

Aiming for the middle of an empty street, she laughed as his fists cratered her body only for her body to spring back to normal after seconds.

 _Crash!_ The sound of the earth shattering underneath them was delightful to her ears as she stood atop the slightly dazed food.

Her energy changed into a deceptively sinister bright pink as she tore her surgical mask off, her mouth watering as she pointed a finger towards her entree.

"You will sate my cravings!" Blasting a beam of energy towards her first real meal she smiled. _Finally._

A huge cloud of pink smoke erupted from the crater they were in as the beam connected.

As the cloud faded all that remained was her, and singular red velvet cupcake in her hand.

Looking at it, her mouth watered as she opened it wide, revealing her much larger than normal canines, to take a bite. As her sharp teeth bit into the small cupcake she felt tears well up in her eyes as she brought a hand up to her face in joy, it was _sooo_ good! Chewing it slowly, she made sure to enjoy the heavy and rich flavor of her morsel. As the bits of cupcakes moved over her tongue and into the back of her throat she swallowed, and let out a sigh of joy. Opening her mouth wide, revealing the fuchsia colored insides once more, she dropped the whole rest of the cupcake into her gaping maw.

Savoring the flavor as she chewed she noted an oddly spicy after-taste to the cupcake, strange but yummy. As she finished off the last chunk of the cupcake, she swallowed, her loud gulp audible. Letting out a moan of contentment she spoke.

"Delicious! That was so good!" She let out a giggle. "I... wait what was I doing?"

Her stomach felt... full.

Clarity returned to her.

Her eyes widened as she looked around.

Fire licked across the earth, rubble was strewn all about, cars were flipped and in various states of disrepair. It looked like hell.

Her lab coat had burned off long ago, as had her jeans, leaving her in the black pair of bra and panties she'd worn. The pair she'd specifically made to resist the strength of her other form on a whim.

She felt embarrassed.

She felt sick.

She felt numb.

She felt _good_.

She needed to go.

Taylor rose into the air, and shot off into the night sky, a pink streak of light following behind her.

...

When she got home she sat on her bed for a moment.

Her head clearer than it had been in months.

She'd lost control, but she felt full.

Taylor felt good.

She looked at the half-finished device that sat on the desk in her room.

She couldn't let something like this happen again.

Even if Lung was a villain she hadn't meant to...

No. She'd known the risks, she couldn't lie. _Besides, it was fun wasn't it? And best of all she was finally full!_

Taylor wouldn't deny that, but the damage she'd done outweighed the good she'd done.

Reaching into her closet she pulled out a set of black leggings and a matching t-shirt, recently purchased as her powers had brought upon a body that had made all of her clothes a bit... tight to put it succinctly, and slipped them on.

Going over to her desk she resigned herself to getting little sleep.

There was work to be done.


	2. Chapter 2

**2 - Beneath the Mask**

When Taylor woke up, she prepared herself to have to ignore the gnawing hunger that she had grown used to.

Her stomach still felt full.

A reminder of her slip. _A reminder of that delightful taste and sensation of swallowing an exquisite morsel._

She ran a hand through her hair at the thought. Those unfortunately still persisted then. If they hadn't went away then did that mean...

No. Those thoughts weren't her, period.

Grabbing the glasses on her desk, she slipped them on.

Taylor had replaced the lenses awhile ago, they were merely to keep an image. An image that could be abandoned when she used her powers, though it would be some time before she could reliably do that. As she was now, her Base Form for a lack of a better term, the urges she had to keep at bay were much less. It was probably the only reason she had made it so long. Regardless, her work was done.

The prototype Canceler had been completed, taking the form of singular golden ring on her left hands ring finger. Hopefully it worked, if it didn't she'd be back to square one.

That _gnawing hunger_ that made everything else seemingly turn to static around her...

Taylor shuddered, but clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles popping.

She wouldn't allow it to happen again.

Getting ready for school she hoped things would be fine.

...

Emma preened as her lips quirked into a smirk. "Oh, fake boobs? I guess you had to pay a fortune for those didn't you Taylor? That's the only way someone like you could-"

Taylor had come in something a bit more fitting her slightly enhanced figure instead of the long baggy shirts and hoodies she normally preferred, and the result was what she expected. With clarity and that feeling of elated joy that made me feel as if I was on cloud nine, Emma's words did little more than roll off her. Her lips flapped.

Flap. Flap.

Up.

Down.

Just like a bird.

The smile that came to her face seemed to stop Emma for a moment, the pause enough time for Taylor to push past her and step around the gaggle of hanger-ons that followed behind Emma like puppets, Sophia simply gazed at her. An inspecting look in her eye. It didn't matter though, Taylor wasn't hungry. She was calm, content, collected, cool, another c word that continued her alliteration. School compared to her other problems was minor.

The rest of the school day passed by in a blur, no interruptions. Worrying, but something she could deal with.

The public library was her new domain for the next couple hours, the curiosity for the fallout of her actions and underlying guilt enough to pierce through the cloud of content she'd been floating on.

Clicking onto PHO first she grimaced, it was as bad as she expected.

The fight she had with Lung/ _Red Velvet Cupcake_ had started somewhere in the northern part of the Docks. Far enough away that the damage that had been wasn't visible from where she lived, Taylor had made sure that she wasn't going to do any cape business near her own home anytime soon for good reason. Her Changer form didn't look that drastically different from herself and she hadn't been sure if she would stay sane if she changed. In the beginning she could, but as her _damnable, gnawing, all-consuming hunger that made everything look so delicious and took all of her focus to just stay sane tick tock got worse,_ she found that changing almost made her drown.

Figuratively.

Regardless, if she lost control and someone did their due diligence, it wouldn't be so hard to put two and two together. At least that's how she thought it would go.

Taylor felt bitter, her chances of being a hero were becoming increasingly slimmer.

Regardless, several properties that had been active businesses had been caught in the resulting crossfire that had rampaged over several city blocks before she had managed to contain it to a localized area filled with rundown and abandoned warehouses. The sheer amount of property damage had to number somewhere in the $100 million range at least, though the PRT seemed to not have found a full estimate yet.

The more relevant piece was that the PRT had no idea where Lung had went, but assumed that he had either been defeated or fled when the fight ended. _He had been super tasty!_

More over, they were telling all civilians to keep an eye out for her and to call and quickly tell them about her whereabouts if they saw her. They were more than likely on the fence on whether or not she was a hero or a villain, if only because she had been fighting Lung, even if she was reckless about it. If they knew that she had to eat, and what she had to eat... Taylor was sure that idea would change quickly. The power to turn things into sweets, such an innocent power until you realize that she could also turn **people** into sweets as well.

 _Even more so because they were utterly delicious and she couldn't wait for the next time she got to eat something so fill-_

No. Stop. She wasn't hungry, her stomach was full, her hunger was sated. At least, for now. No matter how _mouth-wateringly delicious_ someone looked, eating people was wrong. _But it felt so good~._

The comments were about what she expected.

ABB gang members saying that the "pink bitch" would get what was coming to her and that Lung wasn't dead. They weren't wrong, _he was resting comfortably in her stomach where all good food belonged._ Idiots saying that she looked hot (no she wasn't blushing thank you very much, you're blushing), PRT members saying she needed to come in for various reasons, even more idiots saying that she had to be crazy strong to be able to fight Lung when he was a 15ft rage dragon, and someone had their comment deleted for saying something that was apparently more 18+. That was... she was going to just ignore that. Taylor knew she was pretty, the fact that she looked like she'd aged up a couple years after she recovered and thus looked more like her Mom made her sure of that even if she didn't flaunt it, but she didn't think she was nearly pretty enough to be hot.

Emma was closer to that than her, regardless of how she felt.

The next hour she spent time scrolling through random threads to keep her mind clear, to just be normal. She delved much too deep.

She needed to clear her head.

Her stomach didn't rumble.

...

4 PM, there was a couple hours until Dad would get home so she'd decided to get some tea at a small cafe.

The place was cheap, and it's food was sub-par, but the coffee and tea they made was decent enough. More than enough to get her mind off of the things that she had seen when her scroll through PHO had delved deeper than ever before. How did someone fetishize her tail, and why? Okay, so maybe the tea wasn't enough to get her thoughts off such things, but at least it was good. She needed to think about things moving forward, things that she could tangibly do and tell herself that she had made a step towards doing something good. Being a hero wasn't something she could afford, the thought that her hunger might overwhelm her... it wasn't pleasant.

Until she could figure something out on that front she'd refrain from needlessly getting into fights, she had other skills that could be of great use.

As far as she could tell, excluding her Changer form and the Alexandria package she gained in it among other things, she was also incredibly smart.

Not in the same way someone like Armsmaster was, she didn't have ideas that would zoom through her head randomly or anything like how a Tinker might, it was more like she'd suddenly become one of those geniuses that you'd see in movies. She picked up on things incredibly quick, able to read and retain knowledge as if she was some sort of sponge. The knowledge then came together to form ideas like the one she'd had for a ring, a device that would monitor her powers and when she hit a certain threshold would stop her from slipping too far mentally. It wasn't a perfect fix, she'd still feel hungry, but she'd be clear headed.

So then the question was what could she do now?

She wasn't going to be a villain. Too much temptation, and the thought of her Dad's face when he heard that once again _she ate people_ and had turned to villainy to feed her hunger was enough for her to move on.

There was the independent scene to think of. The only notable person Taylor could think of that fit that model in Brockton Bay was Parian. Parian maintained her independence for better or worse by keeping out of all other cape-related business that existed outside of the work she did, as far as Taylor knew. She could assume that she faced critics from both sides, but more so that both sides wanted her but were content that she neither turned towards villainy nor heroism. It seemed slippery, like both sides were probably just waiting for you to mess up so they could "persuade" you that maybe you should come to them.

It was also her best option.

Her first idea was some sort of clinic. She didn't know much about the costs to start a small clinic, a place where she'd be able to make and prescribe medicine and other such things, but if she did the research she was sure that she could make something that would truly help others. Beyond that she'd have to do some research into the start-up costs, the time she'd have to spend, what rules and laws were in place for capes to do such things, and whatever else the idea entailed. Her biggest concern was her Dad. How do you explain to your Dad that you suddenly had powers and wanted to use them to start up a small business while also omitting that your powers makes people into _delicious food that you just wanted to turn into sweets and chew on and swallow and sigh at the feeling of them going down y-_ that was also a concern.

Those thoughts that weren't, couldn't be, hers plagued her even when she wasn't hungry damnit!

Calm.

Stay calm.

Sip. The tea was meant to calm you down, keep your head clear.

Sip. That was what the Barista had said anyways.

Sip. It was good.

She was calm again.

Her tea was gone however.

"Ma'am, is everything alright?" The barista in the shop she had went to had walked over to where she sat outside, her voice sounded nervous.

"Yes, sorry to concern you. Just some bad thoughts." Taylor fished a ten out of her wallet, a remnant from the couple other excursions into the night she had, and deposited it on the table for the tip. Giving the barista a friendly look she walked off.

"T-thank you for your patronage miss." The barista's voice called out from behind her.

Taylor ignored her, her own thoughts rebounding in her head as she thought through her options for the future.

As she walked along the Boardwalk she noted a girl with blonde hair sitting at another cafe just a bit down, as their eyes met the blonde flinched and turned away.

A flavorful smell pervaded the air.

Her stomach was silent.

But... _she could always go for a snack right?_

No. That wasn't her, couldn't be. She wouldn't allow it.

Dante Martins. Age 29. A Body Builder and Personal Trainer. Liked by most, he'd been a good guy for most his life. He'd tried to force himself on her on the night when her hunger had first overwhelmed her, he'd been drunk. In his wallet were pictures of kids and his wife. He'd been her first victim. The one that made her realize that... she forced herself to think the thought, that people could sustain her much more than normal food could. That people were filling enough to keep her content and rational for days minimum.

Never forget. Taylor always made sure that she would remember her mistakes.

Between her clenched fists, fiery embers formed briefly before flickering out of existence.


	3. Chapter 3

**3 - Smells like Teen Spirit**

The last week had flown by easily enough, it was Friday again.

She felt peckish.

Her mind was clear though.

 _Maybe she should finally decide on what treat to make Emma?_

...Her mind was clear enough.

The jeers and petty words from Emma never stopped, but Taylor could see in her eyes that there was something more prudent in her mind. Regardless of the why, Emma's heart wasn't nearly in it and her hanger-ons could tell as well. Their words came less, and Emma's words that once cut so deep were met with indifference, the insults just seemed... beneath her now. Taylor had problems that were much more immediate than that. Watching Emma speak, insult how she looked, say how she was some whore, tell her how she was worthless, say how it was her fault...

Her fault her mom...

Calm.

Stay calm.

She was calm.

 _Calm._

 _Burning._

 _She wasn't fucking caLM!_

She burned on the inside, her skin felt like it was on fire. Her knuckles popped as she clenched her fists, the fire inside of her that told her that she couldn't allow such words go, that she should make an example out of this bitch that would dare speak to her like this. It was only the control that she had honed for so long, the same control that had been tested for several months when she had went without eating anyone, that kept the molten angry fire that was her power underneath her skin. Her energy felt like it wanted to explode, explode and destroy everything around her until she was fine.

Tears streaked down her face like molten liquid against her skin.

 _This bitch wasn't was worth eating, she'd just give her indigestion. The world would be better if she just utterly erased her._

 _One punch. A single blast. And then, and then... Emma would be gone. Dust in the wind._

NO.

She was better than that.

She was better than Emma.

Taylor stormed off, barreling through the rest of the hanger-ons even as the sound of laughter echoed in her ears.

 _She wanted to eat someone._

...

"AAHH!" Her energy flared wildly around her as she let out anger on the unfortunate wreckage that was the latest ire of the _all-consuming, burning rage that made her vividly aware of the gurgling sounds coming from her stomach._

 _Crash!_

She barely noticed as she changed, the snow white hair and pink skin merely given a second's thought as she smashed another hole through a rusted ship, her hands flaring with flames and the pink energy that powered her.

 _She burned and raged._

Taylor knew she got pieces from those she ate, pieces that told her about them, influenced her, made her stronger.

Lung had only made things worse.

Her leg sheared through the rusted hull of a container that had been stuck into the ground years ago, she remembered her Dad mentioned that it had been done so as a form of protest. For what, she didn't know nor did she care at the moment. Metal melted around her as her aura flared even more, the pink aura that had previously only been energy having become even more dangerous as it burned like storm of flames. Embers trailed from her as she moved, quick as lightning punching and shattering more and more, her hands coming undone from the sheer force she was and regenerating even quicker.

 _She burned hotter and hotter_.

What the fuck was she supposed to do?

Her powers made her fucking eat people! And if she didn't she could only hold for so long, all it would take is one bad day, one little slip of the control that she prided her self on and then...

Dante Martins.

Regina Sutherland.

Lesley Woods.

Michael Coach.

 _Kenta Inafune._

 _They had all tasted so good,_ distracted her from how fucked her life was. She starved herself, made sure to temper the hunger by eating as much food as she could every now and then. It was never enough, her stomach always wanted something more filling, _quality over quantity after all._ Her Dad flapped his lips about how he was worried about her, about how she was acting different and she had to put on a mask for his sake. So that he could focus on getting better, and so that maybe he'd one day _get over his fucking self so that they could be an actual family!_ He hadn't recovered, still hadn't, and she knew it wasn't fair for him, but she at least tried to move on and look where she was now? Taylor remembered the look on his face after she changed, the words he mumbled so low that they would go unnoticed, Mom.

Why?

She panted as her punches lost strength, coming tears glistening from the corner of her eyes.

Mangled, molten, and ruined wrecks lied in the aftermath of her wrath, the ground underneath her burning as embers flickered across her skin.

What was she supposed to do?

A crunch of gravel under foot shook her out of her thoughts.

There were vehicles, armored vehicles with the all too recognizable logo on their side. PRT.

Just two, but the riot armored form of men and women, the PRT Logo brazened across their uniform, was visible from the windows.

A blue motorcycle sat next to them.

Stepping towards her were a man in blue armor, another in red.

Armsmaster and Assault.

 _They smelled delicious._

"Hey, Miss," Assault stepped forward slowly, his hands up, palms flat towards her, "Not to stop your deconstruction plans, big fan by the way, but we were called out here to investigate sounds that were described as metal violently screeching in pain as its torn apart viciously and the roar of the flames from hell." He finished with air quotes. "Now, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I like to think I'm pretty good at telling when someones having a bad day, so do you wanna talk about it? I've been told I'm a pretty good listener, ya know? So is there anyway we can sort this issue out without us having to fight things out?" His last words a bit nervous as he looked at the damage all around her.

 _Cupcake? No, something different. Maybe something with cherries? No, she had it. Strawberry Shortcake~._

"Um, Miss, are you okay? You're drooling a bit." Assault took a step back, Armsmaster only a step behind him gripped the Halberd in his hands tighter.

It was enough to snap her out of it.

"Oh, um, yes, I'm fine. Well, maybe not fine exactly... I'm dealing with- I've had a rough time now for awhile. It's why I even went out last week to begin with, and then today things just..." She let out a grunt of frustration as her grey eyes stared at Assault. "Have you ever had life just sort of just decide to beat you over the head repeatedly and have nothing you could do to solve the issue?"

In the background, her ears twitched as she heard Armsmaster's voice, a low whisper meant to go unheard. "Confirmation of Parahuman, code-name Venus."

Assault chuckled a bit. "I think we've all had days like that before, where everything just seems to go horribly wrong and things just don't go how you want them to, no matter what. But, to have that go on for even longer than that? I can empathize. I'm sorry that you'd have to go through with that, but hey, you're still here right?"

"What?"

"Well, you're still kicking right? You haven't went all psycho, given up, or anything like that and whilst you were partly responsible for the damage during the Lung thing, that's practically water under the bridge. You're still alive, you're still living, so yeah life might suck right now, but that doesn't mean it can't or won't get any better eventually. And hey! I've had this Protectorate gig for awhile and I can tell you the benefits are pretty great, we'd be more than willing to help out the gal who duked it out with Lung and got the big bad Dragon to go away. Or, even if you don't want to join, signing up as an independent wouldn't hurt either. Either way, it's our job to help with what we can, and if you need someone to listen to your troubles I got the number of a pretty good therapist too. So what do ya say we get out of here, do some more of the peace stuff, and maybe help you out a bit Miss." Assault smiled, it was a nice smile she thought.

Taylor stood there for a moment, the words rattling through her brain.

It really wasn't that simple.

Nothing ever was, but...

It started from her gut and worked itself out from mouth in the form of a giggle.

Eventually she was laughing, her hands around her gut as she hunched over, her tailing swooshing back and forth behind her.

"That was _hehehe_ so corny." She worked out in between laughs as she gradually recovered. "But, I appreciate the sentiment."

Assault pouted a bit, pretending to be upset but the grin on his face told otherwise.

Even if it was corny and sounded like something that came out of of one those shows that Greg would talk about in far too much detail, the words helped her cool down the rest of the way. Yeah she had a problem, a really big problem, but it hadn't consumed her yet. Not to the point where she had completely crossed the bridge where there was no possible return, though if they found out about the others... that could change. She was sure they wouldn't look past the whole, eating capes and people thing, anytime soon and chances are she would be locked up at minimum. Taylor didn't let herself think about the worse case scenario.

Just more reasons she couldn't let herself be a hero, to repent for what she'd done and because her hunger was a danger to not just herself but those around her. Until she could figure out some way to manage it, Taylor couldn't let that be a risk. Today had reminded her of that, that she was always just one false-step away, one bad day away from doing something that would ruin her utterly. She'd already made mistakes before, she couldn't let another happen, not again.

She opened her mouth to tell them that she'd think about it, not a full lie as she was thinking about being independent eventually, but she had already resigned herself to a life of no heroics. Taylor needed to stay in control, and if her thought that other capes in particular were much more filling than normal people, she was unsure if she'd always be able to keep herself in check, to keep herself from _turning them into delicious sweets to gorge herself on._

Instead of these perfectly valid thoughts, what instead happen was the loud grumbling of her stomach.

Her cheeks became rosy, the red standing in contrast to her pink skin.

"I, um, my powers make me very hungry so uh..." She looked away embarrassed.

Her first meeting with heroes and her stomach rumbles.

She wanted to die.

Assault took it in stride however, keeping a grin on his face. "We do have pretty nice cafeteria on base, and enough food to feed even the most Brutiest of Brutes, we can feed you and talk about the rest later, kay?"

"Assault, you know Director Piggot will-" Armsmaster was cutoff by a nonchalant wave of Assault's hand.

"Don't worry about the boss-lady Armsy, I'll make sure to handle it." Assault said as he started walking away, back to one of the armored vehicles behind them.

"You mean like the last time you said that?" Armsmaster's voice was blunt as he retorted.

"Hey! That was months ago!"

"It was 2 weeks ago."

Watching their back and forth, with Assault defending himself against the dry retorts of Armsmaster, Taylor was mystified.

Were these really heroes? They seemed normal.

It was nice.

"Hey, Miss, you coming or what?" Assault's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"Y-yes!" She quickly replied. "Though, why do you keep calling me Miss?"

"Well I don't really want to call you Venus, that's the name we came up with for you so far, because hey? Capes should get to pick their own names. The only other options were Miss, or Pinky, and I chose the one that was less likely to get me punched by the strong pink woman who fought Lung hand-to-hand. Though, now that we're on the topic, whaddya call yourself? I'm thinking something like Chameleon? Fuschia? Neapolitan?"

"Djinn. Just call me Djinn for now."

"Cool name, though it's probably taken by somebody in India."

"My database says it's not." Armsmaster chimed in, his motorcycle already running.

"Never mind, then. Well, follow us!" Assault said happily as hopped into one of the vans.

Rising up into the air to follow them, Taylor smiled a bit.

Maybe things were hard now, but that didn't mean she had to give up.

Today had started, but maybe things were looking up for her.

Even if only a bit.

 _It would be better if she had a delicious treat to go with it. Maybe the cities villains would satisfy her?_

She ignored the treacherous thoughts.

Taylor wouldn't slip.

She refused to.


	4. Interlude A

**Interlude (Assault)**

Assault was surprised things had went so smoothly.

The cape from the Lung incident was much less scary than what Armsy had shown them on the footage he had managed to get. She seemed like a nice enough gal, besides the whole she probably ate Lung and wow wasn't that something that was utterly terrifying. Especially with the fact that when they had gotten on the scene of what they had thought might be Lung fighting someone or a new Parahuman testing out any powers they might have, they find her in a mess of disfigured and wrecked hulls with flames licking at her skin. So not only did they have an extremely strong cape who wasn't registered with anyone, they had one that could turn people into sweets like it was magic and then eat them and gain their powers in a way.

The closest analogue they had to that was The Faerie Queen.

Not someone anyone wanted to be compared to.

From the moment they had stepped on base, he noticed that Djinn looked at everything with a giddiness that told him that despite how she restrained herself, she was at least firmly interested in the Heroes which was a blessing. He really didn't want to have to try and fight her, nor be the one to try and detain her if she suddenly decided that there base was the perfect place for her to suddenly betray them. It'd be especially bad since he'd been the one to argue for the soft-sell, not that it had been a hard argument. Even Piggot realized that despite the associated costs that would come with getting Djinn on their side, or at least make sure she wasn't turning towards villainy, it was much better than the alternative.

Assault liked to think the extra work that he got for it was worth it.

So here he was in a meeting to discuss what they had learned from meeting Djinn in person and the bits of info they managed to get out of her.

"Parahuman, codename Djinn, was invited on base today and as of today is officially classified as an Independent Cape." Armsy's voice was serious as he spoke, a picture of the cape in question coming up on the display. A close-up of her in the night sky right before she had flown off. "Temporary power designations are; Brute 8, Mover 6, Blaster 6, Striker 5, a tentative Changer rating of 7 as we presume that this form of hers is not her standard appearance to go along with her other acts of shapeshifting. Unofficially, she also has a Trump rating that has currently been undecided."

Everyone's faces went serious as the display played the video that Armsmaster had captured.

There was flames all around, the sound of earth being torn apart as what seemed like two monsters battled across the Docks.

Flames that Assault knew well enough could melt steel were either matched with blasts of pink and black energy or dived through as if they were merely a hindrance.

A high-pitched laughter played throughout the entire thing, it made him flinch a bit.

It wasn't a good laughter, it was the laughter of one who was enjoying this way too much.

The crazy kind of laugh that spelt trouble for those who heard it.

It wasn't natural.

It made it harder for him to parse that the cape that he had met today was the same as the cape that had fought Lung only a week ago.

The final shot of Lung being turned into a cupcake and being eaten before Djinn flew away made him wince.

The Wards in the room had went pale, he noted that even Shadow Stalker seemed shaken.

He saw MM's expression tighten a bit from the corner of his eye, Velocity and Battery did much alike. Triumph seemed to shake hard, as if he was holding himself back from saying something.

"She is dangerous, extremely dangerous, but Director Piggot has decided to try a soft approach until we figure out more about her, as despite her possible propensity for collateral damage and the action she took against Lung, Djinn claims to not be a villain and has further discussed the issue with us. Until then, Wards are to not approach her if she's seen in public. Call-in her location and merely continue on your scheduled patrol, if she makes contact first, be polite and try to disengage if you can. If you are unable, be as cautious as possible and try not to do anything that would possibly upset her or set her off. Understood?"

Armsmaster's reply was the shaking nods of the Wards one by one.

"Wards, dismissed."

At once, the Wards stood up from the room and left one after the other, Stalker was dragging her feet looking particularly shook. He would have to tell MM to check on that for him later.

Armsmaster looked at the rest of us, Dauntless missing in action due to sickness, and the rest of us all feeling some sort of way.

"Assault, having interacted the most with her today, can you tell us what you think about her personality, her general mind-state, and any other information you managed to get from your interactions?"

"She was calm, almost strangely so at times really, but nice. It was easy to tell that she enjoyed being here, that she seemed mesmerized just a bit by being next to the heroes, especially you and Miss Militia. Djinn also eats a lot, like enough to be feeding several people minimum and from her own words whilst she was eating, it's because her power requires a lot of energy to actively use. The way she eats is a bit terrifying to be honest, her mouth stretches a bit too far and the way she gnashes at the food is a bit... beastly for the lack of a better term. It was only after several plates that she seemed to move away from that hungry, "I'm thinking that you smell delicious", look. After that she was a bit more chatty, laughing at my grade-A humor and just seemed more lively. She even made some jokes of her own. I think her hunger affects her mentality a bit more than she let on, and that might've been why she was at the Boat Graveyard today, besides whatever else she was dealing with. It was to help distract her from life, probably."

"Possible age?"

"Eh, if I had to take a guess she seemed college-aged, no older than 21 but definitely at least 18." Assault's answer came easily.

Armsmaster seemed to think to himself for a moment, before nodding.

"I got a similar reading from my equipment, so whatever issues she has would be something more personal..." Armsmaster was silent again, it was strange to see him like that. The man wasn't the best with the social aspect of things, too blunt and usually not able to show subtlety when engaged with people, but he could do it when he tried. Assault liked to think it was all the interaction with Dragon that helped Armsmaster out so much.

Triumph took that time to speak up.

"So we're just fine with having such a dangerous cape, with a blatant propensity for destruction and known murderer running around and acting like she didn't do anything wrong?" His words were terse, he was angry. Assault knew that Triumph had a strong sense of wrong and right, a bit too much so.

"Along with the fact that trying to bring her up and legally arrest her for the potential murder of Lung wouldn't be effective, we got her to reveal in a way that Lung is very much still alive. Our current working thought is that she has him locked inside her body in a way, as she refused to expand further. As for the damages, they are in expected parameters for a drawn out engagement with Lung, and Dragon and I estimate that less than 20% of the damage was actually caused by her. Director Piggot agrees that if she does something so blatant again then we will change tactics, but until then we do things safe. Having someone as dangerous as a ramped up Lung actively want to be good, or at least neutral was agreed to be more important than trying to throw her in jail for crimes that would likely not stick." His words were blunt in his retort.

Moving on before Triumph could speak, he turned to him and MM. Triumph definitely had more to say, to argue, Assault knew him well enough that he could tell he'd probably talk to Armsy and Piggot later.

"Director Piggot agrees that Assault and Miss Militia should be the ones that try and make more contact with her on if spotted. Assault as she's shown to be receptive to conversing with you, and Miss Militia to provide a strong female support if necessary as well as Miss Militia having the necessary skills to speak with a young woman of such an age and not accidentally offend her or do something that would be seen as socially awkward."

Armsmaster admitting that he wasn't that great at something, if indirectly? Wow, Piggot must be really serious about this.

"Any questions?"

The room was silent, Triumph seemed conflicted.

"Then, Dismissed."

Today had went much better than Assault had thought it would.

His only wish was that things could stay that way.

He'd rather not get turned into food anytime soon anyways.

 _He imagined being turned into a sweet would certainly be an Assault on the senses._


	5. Chapter 4

**4 - The Sweet Escape  
**

Taylor felt pretty good about today.

Things had went well.

Better than she expected really.

She'd decided on the way there that she needed to be somewhat open, not so much tell them something like if she went too long without eating that she might go into a feeding frenzy because that'd be crazy. Taylor spoke very briefly on her hunger, letting them know that usage of her powers caused her to become extremely hungry and that she had to eat a lot more than a normal person might or she'd act a bit weird. It was meant to give her at least a valid reason if she did ever end up in a situation where she needed to work with the PRT and found herself spacing out for obvious reasons. Taylor knew going in that they had probably saw her turn Lung into _a delicious treat,_ so she made sure to "accidentally" drop that he wasn't dead which was true. Better to think that then that she had killed him, she thought.

Lung was sitting there in her stomach, unconscious for as long as she kept him inside herself.

 _Only the best food got such special treatment apparently._

The others that she had eaten, they were gone.

Her only working theory being that because they weren't Parahumans, her body decided that after taking them in, to get rid of them shortly after. Her powers had taken the valuable things from them; memories and skills primarily. From Lung however? She got much more. That fire inside of her body that burned when she was talked down to, if she felt like an injustice was done to her, it wanted to escalate. It made her stronger, but more wild, the burning hot rage that came with it making her want to prove that she was above others, that she was Djinn and that she ruled through power. A remnant of Lung's that would be there as long as she kept him, it was only luck Taylor thought, that it hadn't affected her more.

His fighting skills were hers now, she shuddered at the things he'd seen, everything that was his was hers now. For better and worse.

Cape eats and/or kills other cape and gets there powers? There's only one other notable person like that.

The Faerie Queen herself. Taylor felt herself wince at that thought.

If even she could see the comparisons, then Taylor's would see them as well.

At best they might try and push her to go to the Birdcage, and that was probably the worst possible outcome. The Birdcage was filled with practically the most dangerous Parahumans, the ones that were too dangerous to merely put away in any other prison. If you went in, as far as she knew, you weren't coming back out. For her, it meant that she'd _have access to an all-you-can-eat-buffet!_ Taylor wasn't stupid, she'd noticed that capes, gave off a certain scent. A scent that made them so much more _tantalizing_ than any other average person, it wasn't until she'd eaten plates of food that was enough to fill several people that she'd been able to keep her mind off it.

At worst for her, they'd try to kill her immediately. She morbidly though that'd be for the best.

If it was up to her she wouldn't even have these powers anyways, she'd hit the jackpot some would say. She was strong, could fly, was extremely tough, could shoot blasts of energy, and that was ignoring the fact that she had felt more than what she was before after she'd eaten Lung. Looking from the outside in, she was sure that she probably looked liked the next Alexandria, the next big hero in the making. The cost was just the gnawing hunger that constantly plagued her and tempted her, that dark desire to just _turn all of the delicious smelling food around her into the next meal to satiate her hunger and then she could eat and eat and eat and-._

She stopped her negative train of thought there, the meeting with the PRT had went well after all.

Flying through the sky as the sun started to set behind her, she turned her thoughts to the card she had in her pocket.

Searching through the pockets in the blue and red dress she had changed to earlier, her rage hadn't stopped her from realizing that being found taking out her frustration whilst in school clothes would've been really bad to say the least, she pulled out the card. They, specifically Assault, had talked to her about possibly signing up for being a member of the Protectorate. Her first reaction was to say she was still in high-school for one, yeah she'd gotten taller and looked a bit older, but she didn't look that different right?

That thought made her uncomfortable.

Regardless, she'd instead made her hesitance known, that she wasn't really sure on the hero thing, at least not yet anyways. Her reasoning being mostly issues within her personal life, which was technically true. They stopped pushing after that, though Assault did state that they'd be willing to help her with whatever the problem was and had given her a card containing his own info along with the standard hotline for the PRT. On the back was a small message and another number, one for a therapist named Sera Langley. The message had recommended her if Taylor ever felt like she needed someone to talk to.

She'd known she had been a bit weird, the _heavenly aroma that pervaded their base had made it hard to think after all,_ but not weird enough that something felt off about her. Was her perception really so skewed that she couldn't notice herself being weird around others? Sure she'd been a bit reserved, combined with having to keep herself in check and not trying to fan-girl over the heroes she'd like to think her reasons were justified, but people could be shy right? Maybe she was just thinking over it too hard, trying to poke holes in what had been much better than the heroes going "Aha!" and deciding to try and arrest her.

They'd even fed her when they could've just left her hungry.

As she neared her home she told herself that everything was fine, she was just thinking too hard on it.

Things were going to be just fine.

Nearing her house, she dropped off a block away after checking to make sure there was no one nearby, her pink skin shifting back to normal just as her tail pulled itself back in. Her features shifted back to the ones that she was a bit more familiar, and then she was walking out of the alley-way, a smile on her face as tried to think positive. Her day, even though it had started off rather bad, had been good. She got to talk with heroes, she laughed at Assault's corny jokes, she'd even left on amiable terms with them, heck they had wanted her to join them even if they weren't pushing hard for it.

It felt good to have a day where things just didn't turn to shit.

After a short walk she found herself in front of her home, her Dad's car in the driveway.

Being careful as she walked up the steps to her house, she pulled out her key and entered, her voice loud enough to be heard through the house as said "I'm back!".

There was silence for a moment.

"Dad?" She spoke into the silence, her instincts flaring at her that something was not right. A subtle pressure in the air that made her tingle. Dropping her bag at the door, she sniffed the air, something odd smelling pervaded the air.

Her feet rose slightly off the ground as she began to float, their house was old so it wasn't abnormal for the floor to creak when someone was moving over it, but she needed to be stealthy. Slowly inching her way forward, she tried to focus her ears on any weird sounds, to hear if there was somebody else there. Moving ever closer to the living room she felt her skin prickle as she heard a small sound.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

Taylor's eyes widened as she changed forms, her body already moving as she realized what the sound was but she was too late. A flash of light, an explosion of sound as the living room was caught in the initial explosion, and then-

 _Pain!_

Her body flared up as if everyone of her nerves was on fire, and then... there was nothing.

Numbness as she felt her body drift, floating as if she was drifting down a river.

Was she dying?

Her senses felt blurry.

The world around her becoming greyed out, as if someone drained all the color from it.

She tried to turn her head, moving felt like she was in molasses, and there was no sound.

When had she got flung into the air?

...

She had blacked out, she couldn't tell for how long.

Minutes, maybe hours, it didn't feel like days had passed but Taylor couldn't be sure.

She didn't feel as hungry as she thought she would, but something else inside her burned. Was she trapped in this gray world, where everything seemed to go so slow? Her body still felt off, but she was alive, she was conscious of the world around her at something within her raged. Raged at the mere fact that someone thought they could ever imprison her, that they could ever cage her. Pink and black energy and the familiar orange flames licked at her skin as she focused herself, focused on that feeling welling up from inside of her. She'd been stuck like this before, had almost been stuck again only a few months ago, but her powers had already awakened by then. No, flashes of something else came from inside of her.

Taylor didn't like this, she hated it.

Her aura flared around her in the grey world as she felt the flames around her grow hotter, she was not going to die.

She refused!

Yes her life felt like shit at times, but it was hers!

Opening her mouth, she screamed as her energy raised more and more.

Not enough! More and more power rose from within as she screamed at the faded grey world around her that thought it could keep her here!

Either she would give or this world would.

As more power rose from within her, she knew it would be the world.

And then she felt it, the gray cracked as the lifeless world seemed to collapse under the power she was emitting.

A hole formed in the air in front of her, color visible from the other side.

Stopping her scream, Taylor pushed herself to move, her power gradually pushing her through the air as she moved with intention, not wanting to have her power fade and be unable to escape. As her body got closer she could feel her herself becoming faster and faster, feeling returning to her as her skin shifted to the pink of her other form, her hair changing, her ears becoming pointed, and her tail ripping a hole through the jeans she wore. Pushing more and more, it was with one last push of power that she shot through the hole the ring on her finger shattering as she shot into the sky.

The world erupted into sound, sirens from police cars, the occasional yells, and the distant and not so distant sound of explosions in the distance.

The moon hung over her head, her aura flaring around her as flames licked her skin and embers sparked off of her. She brought a hand up to inspect it, she felt different.

How long had she been trapped?

Where was her Dad?

Her stomach was oddly silent.

Looking down at her house she saw that the damage had been done, parts here and there having collapsed from the initial explosion, others having been buried underneath the rumble.

She'd always worried, worried about what would happen if she just let herself go. Taylor had thought about it, even had gave herself legitimate reasons as to why she shouldn't; her Dad would be disappointed in her, she'd be sent to the Birdcage, she shouldn't stoop to the level of those that pushed her, her Mom's face if she ever heard what she'd done. There were so many reasons that she could think of, but at the moment those things just seemed so much less than what she had built them up to be. The thoughts leaving her head as quickly as she tried to think of them.

Someone had attacked her, attacked her personally and in her home, the memories of one of the people she'd absorbed reminding her that something like that overstepped rules between capes, and even if they hadn't... something welled up from inside her. Her Dad was missing, she could only hope that he'd left the house before, but she couldn't be sure. If she searched through the rubble and she found a body she... she'd...

Taylor would find the person who did this and _she'd enjoy eating them down to the very last bite._

 _She licked her lips, she hoped they'd taste delicious._


	6. Chapter 5

**5 - Candy Shop**

Taylor was almost inclined to ignore the shouts coming from beneath where she floated in the sky.

She had bigger business to attend to after all.

The bright red PRT logo on the armored soldiers that had cordoned off her home with the familiar yellow safety tape, as well as a few armored vehicles, made her change her mind.

Withdrawing her aura, she let it simmer underneath her skin waiting for only a single indication to bring it right back to its full form, no need to terrify the people that could help her after all. Gently floating down to the earth, her eyes stared at the PRT soldiers and scanned them with her eyes, she could smell the fear coming off of them. Why? She was on the side of the angels, and they didn't have to worry about her eating them. They wouldn't even register as a snack, and eating good people was bad. Her eyes snapped to one soldier that bravely strode up to her, his hand was pressed against his helmet as he came to a stop in front of her.

"You Djinn?" The man's voice was gruff, his skin dark from where it was visible, and though he stood slightly shorter than her he appeared much more muscular. She licked her lips, if he wasn't a member of the PRT she wasn't sure if she could've stopped herself from gobbling him right up, he'd at least make for nice hors-d'oeuvre before she moved along. The way he suppressed a flinch as she hungrily stared him down reinforced the thought.

"Yes, I'm Djinn," Taylor said after a moment, she needed to focus for now, she could eat later, "Could you tell me what's happened since I was unfortunately trapped?"

"It's been 4 days since you were caught in what we now know to be a bombing spree led by the current cape in-charge of the ABB, Bakuda. From what we know she targeted certain areas for attacks including; residential areas, parks, schools, and then interspersed areas within the Docks and Downtown areas. After confirming with her own eyes on Day 1 that she had gotten you, we're led to believe that you were specifically targeted as a way to prove that the gang still had prominence. As of now, we're dealing with a large-scale turf war between the ABB and E88, with the Merchants seemingly having gone underground. Armsmaster directly told me to relay to you to be careful, to not rush off and do something reckless, and in my personal opinion I think you should head over to the base and meet with the other heroes there, you got the look of someone's who going to do something you'll regret." The man finished with a look of worry across his face.

She tapped her chin, what was there to be worried about? _She only planned to eat that bitch Bakuda after all._

Taylor smiled after a moment.

"No, I'll be just fine." She said, her eyes staring down the officer. "I'm going to put an end to this."

Rising off of the ground her energy flowed around her, her red eyes turning away from the officer and looking to the night sky.

She felt as if something bad was going to happen, her gut telling her that if she continued down the path that she was on that she wouldn't be able to stop, that things wouldn't be able to go back to the way they were if she continued. Part of her wanted to stop, to go to the heroes and see if they could help her, they were already fighting and taking part in this whole fucked up situation to begin with so what was stopping her from just going to them and working with them to clear this all up. It would be easy, she could just fly over there and talk to them, they seemed nice. Nice enough to listen to her, and heck even offer her to join even knowing a bit about how scary she could be. So why?

Her eye's drifted towards the, thankfully and not thankfully, still rubble that was her home.

She felt her energy flair around her lighting her up like a pink quasar, the officers backing away from underneath her. One of them saying something through a mic in his helmet.

That was why.

She'd been attacked at her own home, her Dad, the only thing that seemed like a constant nice thing in her life for all his faults, was missing.

And the person that was responsible for the attack was destroying the city by waging some stupid gang war to prove of all things that her stupid gang was still relevant after Taylor had _eaten_ the Dragon that had kept the ABB together after beating him in a fight. The part of her that felt slightly like Lung told her he wouldn't have approved, Taylor knew for a damn fact that she didn't approve either, and that part of herself that she reigned in so often because it looked at everything like it was potential food agreed, agreed that something like this couldn't be allowed to go without sufficient retaliation.

Taylor's felt hungry.

Her red-eyes stared at the city before her, the sounds of explosions, gunshots, and panic loud enough that she could hear it clearly.

She decided.

Shooting through the sky she decided to start cleaning this mess up, she had _food_ to find.

...

Brandon had always believed himself to be relatively smart, before he joined the gang he'd had a 4.0 GPA.

Afterwards, despite his "extra-curricular activities" he'd manage to keep it at a 3.7.

However, that was only book smarts.

He knew that didn't mean anything when you had someone's gun in your face, or if your bosses had decided that you would be mooks and fodder in their fight against the other dangerous capes. His recruit hadn't been anything special, parents knew some people and pushed him to join in the way that meant if he didn't he'd be disowned, the norm for his parents. Brandon did what they asked, or else. So he'd joined, though the plan was always to eventually get enough money to get out, to leave the shit show that was Brockton Bay and his parents behind and live his life renting out buildings or something to make a steady income. Brandon didn't believe in the shit the E88 spewed, but with no choice he'd done some really shitty things, and tried to make up for it in little ways.

That black guy who him and some other idiots were asked to beat up? Maybe someone called the cops say 10-15 minutes before to adjust for their response time and the cops just happened to be there before they were. That hispanic guy who used to teach him how to sow when he was little? Advised to not take the usual way he did back home from a friendly neighborhood kid that totally wasn't him.

Small things, that lessened the guilt he felt a tiny bit.

However, Brandon's smarts were in being able to assess a situation, to see if things were well and truly fucked. He'd become a street-level lieutenant because of it which had brought more problem, but hey another years or two and he could leave, get the fuck out of it all, so whatever. So when the bitch Bakuda, the crazy tinker that they'd heard Lung had gotten before becoming a tasty snack for that creepy pink monster, had decided to bomb the fuck out of the city he wasn't surprised that he would inevitably end up in a firefight with some assholes from the ABB that were deciding to raise havoc on their new boss' orders.

He was surprised when they decided to use a fucking grenade that suddenly sucked in and killed half his squad.

"Brandon! We're fucking pinned down, you bastard! What the hell do we do?"

Noah's yell made him turn, a grimace on his face as he ran a hand through his hair and looked at the only other person that knew of his personal plans.

Noah was an asshole, not a legitimate racist, but the type that could fit in because he joked so much about it that it was hard to tell whether or not he was joking. He was also his best friend that he had known for almost all his life, his best friend that along with six other assholes was get ting shot at by the dozen or so ABB idiots that had taken up position in an abandoned convenience store. There was a wound on Noah's side that was bleeding, the bit of cloth he tied off around it doing just well enough to prevent him from bleeding out. For now.

Brandon needed to do something, anything.

He knew that for all he could think of, there was a good chance that tonight was night he kicked the bucket.

His rifle had one clip left, and the pistol he had was a shitty 9mm that had the 3 clips that he carried on him for protection.

So what the hell was he supposed to do?

He didn't want to die.

To die now... no he wouldn't think like that.

Think.

Think.

There had to be some way out of this.

Panicked screams in a language that he vaguely recognized as being Chinese from that one class he took when he was young startled him out of this thoughts, peaking his head up from the cover of one of the vehicles that him and his buddies had taken cover behind, he stared at what he saw.

It was that cape, that cape who had eaten Lung.

She floated there in the sky, above the ABB gang members, a pink and black energy coming off of her in a way to seemed to freeze him stiff. He could make out her eyes from his angle, they shone with malicious intent.

As the sound of gunfire picked back up now focus on the cape, he quickly turned to his subordinates.

"We need to go, now!" He exclaimed in as low a voice as he could manage.

The sound of girlish laughter echoed in his ears as a sense of dread welled up in the pit of his gut.

Noah and the rest of his men nodded, they could feel the danger that they were in but understood that this was probably their only opportunity to retreat.

The sounds of gunfire died down quickly, much too quickly he thought as he helped Brandon up and started move as fast as he could away from where he was now.

"Ooh, I've never had something like this before! I think this is called Dango, right? Oh! And this one is Pocky! And there's so much! Well, guess it's time for me to dig-in! I need my strength for the main event after all~." The monster's voice was full of glee as she spoke, that wasn't normal. As far as he'd been told she was supposed to at least like the heroes, a damn lie if he'd ever seen one. The sound of crunching and the gnashing of teeth made him speed up more, if that monster wanted to eat her food fine, just please stay the fuck away from him.

He was getting out of this shit, after tonight he was done, no more pretending that shit wasn't fucked. Brandon was going to get the hell out of Brockton Bay. He-

Brandon froze.

"Mmm that was delicious~." She stood in front of them, crimson eyes gleaming with a dark hunger as she stared them down. The look in them terrified him, it was the look of predator having cornered prey, it was inhuman. Inhuman in a way that he was 100% sure odd even among capes, what the fuck was she? He had fought capes before, at least been in fights involving capes anyway, and they were all similar. They were messed up in the head in a way if you talked to em, but as far as he was concerned they were still people, still human. The monster standing in front of them, the hungry look in her eyes, it made him shiver in fear. He blinked for only half a second and she had close enough that she could reach out and touch them.

Brandon hadn't heard her move.

His legs trembled, there wasn't a way out of this he could think of.

It was only a small mercy that everyone else seemed as afraid as he was, no one tried to pull their gun on her.

"Now, I'll ask you the same question I asked the others," Her tail swished back and forth behind her as she smiled a smile that he was certain spelled his death, "Do you happen to know where I can find Bakuda? Any information at all would help."

Her voice was much too cheery.

Brandon liked to credit himself on his smarts, those smarts were good enough to assess whether or not something was too risky, if it was better do this rather than that, and what was the right choice at the right time. When, after spilling his guts and saying that he was sure his boss and subsequently the other villains, were going to head to where they thought Bakuda was, the monster left with no more than a parting smile he patted himself on the back as he and his buddies collapsed to the ground. The overwhelming pressure the monster had seemed to exude lifted as she flew away.

He didn't pity that bomber bitch.

Fuck being a gang member or henchman.

If that was the sort of shit he'd have to deal with here from now on he'd rather take his chances with leaving the Empire.

This shit was too much of a drag.


	7. Chapter 7

**6 - Sudden Beautiful Lie**

She felt guilty.

Guilty that she was doing something that she had told herself that she wouldn't do.

"Satsuei o tsudzukeru!"

She pointed a finger at the gang bangers that had decided that shooting at her even though she had shown that it was worthless, in less than a second energy gathered around her finger as she smiled. The ground beneath them exploded, sending shrapnel and rubble flying as well as shaking up those who had thought that maybe shooting her wasn't such a good idea. Those who got hit wouldn't die, she'd gotten better control by now. Her stomach had went silent, but the enticement of a free snack was more than enough to make zap those too slow to run and turn them into more food.

Taylor had never wanted things to go so far.

She knew what she looked like, she knew that someone had more than likely gotten footage of her.

 _The worse part was that she couldn't bring herself to care._

She didn't feel bad that she had ate these people, to get Bakuda she felt like she'd do anything right now, but she felt bad that she had to resort to doing this.

These people did have lives, some of them weren't here of their choice, others had no other choice, some despite their many flaws were good people, others were trying to change.

Maybe she felt remorse because she was seeing their lives?

Everything up until that last _delicious bite!_

It was an odd feeling.

She'd fly through the night sky, the sound of bombs in the distance seeming to become dimmer and dimmer as the world around her seemed to shrink. Interrogate this person, turn those who attacked to candy, eat the few she needed to keep moving, she'd feel a surge of strength ever so minute, and then she'd keep moving. It'd probably only been an hour max, she couldn't tell, the city was pretty big after all and as she thought more and more on her actions she felt and odd detachment settle over her. With each life she took into herself, and she could actually feel them sitting there this time just like with Lung which was a conscious effort on her part, it became just a bit easier.

Tired.

She suddenly felt tired.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

The gunfire stopped and then it would return.

Her teeth gnashed as she felt herself smile, chomping and chewing at the lollipops in her hands, each of the candy orbs falling to bits so very easily.

Her stomach gurgled, it wanted more.

She remembered her Mom.

How she had said that this was for the best, and that one day what she had done to her would make sense.

Lives that weren't hers flashed before her eyes for scant seconds for every person she consumed.

A part of her hated her Mom.

She could admit that.

She resented the fact that for the sake of creating a hero that could one day destroy the Endbringers her Mom had cursed her with the gnawing hunger and powers that had resurfaced after she died.

It was too much.

The fact she died and left Taylor with her Dad, that had no clue what Taylor was really going through despite his best efforts, and had her essentially deal with this alone hurt the most.

She loved her Mom.

She loved her Dad.

Taylor found herself back in the moment in flash, staring down the woman that had caused her to go this far.

For some reason the city burned around them.

Where were the heroes?

The bomber looked tired, her outfit was covered in grime and she sagged just a bit even as she hefted what looked like some sort of portable launcher and pointed it at Taylor.

"So, you're still fucking alive? I'm surprised but that just means I get to test more bombs on you, you fre-"

The pink beam hit her in her chest before she could finish her monologue.

In the place where Bakuda stood was a human sized cookie of her.

It was still for a moment, but then began to move.

Taylor couldn't stifle the giggle that escaped her lips.

"Wow, you have enough ego to still move? I guess I never thought that was even a possibility, I wonder if I had given Lung a second to react would he have moved to?" Walking over slowly to the large cookie she smiled as she came to stand over it, red pupils and black sclera gazing madly at the cookified Bakuda. "Guess we'll never know."

"Now, Bakuda, I made a promise to myself that by the end of this, _I was going to eat you._ " Taylor licked her lips as she picked up the cookie one-handed. "And well, really, I'm so very hungry so excuse me~." Her mouth opened up, the gaping maw revealing her sharp canines and then...

 ** _Crunch Chew Chomp Munch Chew Munch Crunch Smack Chomp Smack Crunch Chew Chomp Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew Chomp. Munch Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch Chew Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch. Chew. Munch Crunch Smack. Chomp. Smack Crunch Chew. Chomp. Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch Chew. Munch Crunch. Smack Chomp Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch. Chew. Munch Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack Crunch Chew. Chomp Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack Chomp. Smack Crunch. Chew Chomp. Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew Chomp Munch. Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch Chew. Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Crunch. Chew. Chomp. Munch Chew Munch. Crunch. Smack. Chomp. Smack. Gulp._**

Disgusting.

She licked the crumbs off her lips and looked down at herself.

For the first time she really looked at herself.

Taylor felt herself start to shake.

The toned pink limbs, the slim waist, the bust... they... they weren't...

She shot into the air, an aura of pink roaring off her form.

What was she?

What had she done?

And why... why had she enjoyed it?

She felt lost.

 _What was she?_


End file.
